


ice cream and possibly love

by whytho



Category: Paranatural (Webcomic)
Genre: F/F, I hope it is, is her first name agent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-12 22:27:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5683129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whytho/pseuds/whytho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the activity club: creators of relationships and, also, kinda dumb.</p>
            </blockquote>





	ice cream and possibly love

**Author's Note:**

> day and zarei, eyyyyyyy? ......you can't tell but i'm finger-gunning you.
> 
> this probably has many mistakes. me and the mistakes are sorry.

Ed finds the ultimate couple on a Tuesday. 

He and Izzy are going to the park with their milkshakes, as one does at ten thirty on a school night. They are passing by the local coffee-shop when they see them through the front window: Agent Day and Mina Zarei, smiling at each other from across the table. Their hands are close but not touching, and Dr. Zarei is quite possibly the happiest that the world's ever seen her. 

Izzy almost drops her shake. Well, she really does drop her shake, but she catches before it hits the ground. Eyes nearly popping out of her head, she swivels around to look at Ed. “Do you- do you see them?” she whispers, practically awestruck. 

Ed nods, staring at the oblivious couple. He can’t peel his eyes away.

Izzy turns back to the window. Day laughs at something Dr. Zarei said, and Isabel's eyes are probably the size of moons. Still whispering, she asks, “Do you think that we should set them up?”

Ed nods again, realises Isabel can't see him, and finds his voice. “Yes. Yep. Uh-huh.”

 

 

Ed gets the Activity Club to help them on a Thursday. Isaac and Max are standing with him and Isabel, outside Izzy’s house after a mission, yelling at the kitchen window in an effort to get some adults to take them for ice cream. (Mr. Spender had declined and said he was going to meet a friend; Isaac muttered something about him having no friends.) It’s cold enough for Max to be shivering, and they would all really like to go inside. 

Izzy packs a snowball together and throws it at the kitchen window. After a loud thump, it is opened and Agent Day sticks her head out. “Hello?” she says, head turning around in an effort to find someone. 

Max waves.

Isaac laughs at him. 

Clearing his throat, Max says, "Uh, hi!"and Day's head turns towards them.

Max continues, “We- uh, we wanted to get some ice cream, and we need an adult! Can you drive?” He stops immediately, cheeks coloring a little. “I mean, never mind! Is there someone in there that can drive?”

Day beams in their general direction. “Actually,” she says, and Ed can tell that they will be going for ice cream. ”There is someone here that can drive us all. We’re coming out!”

The Activity Club waits, breathless with anticipation in seeing their mystery driver. And for the ice cream. And for getting out of the cold.

They are shocked when Agent Day steps out with Dr. Zarei. Well, Isaac and Max are shocked. Izzy is almost ecstatic, and she spins around to face Ed with a maniac smile on her face. Smiling back at her, Ed steps into place beside them as they head to the car.

“So, ur, good doctor,” Izzy says, “You know… how to drive?”

Dr. Zarei looks at her as if she was joking. “Yes,” he shoulders are stiff. “I am just… unaware as to where the ice cream shop is.”

Izzy smiles with her eyes shut sometimes, like she's doing now, and Ed thinks that she’s trying to direct all her positivity at Zarei. “I’ll lead you there,” she says, and begins to start a background of chatter until they reach the front doors of the sundae shop. 

The sundae shop is one of Ed’s favorite shops in Mayview. (Apart from Max’s store, because it is very fun to see him working the counter. Also because his dad seems to think Ed is one of his son’s cooler friends. Also because Max wouldn’t ask any questions if Ed decides to buy eight packets of gummy bears and a box of waffles. Sometimes he’ll even sit with Ed as he, and he doesn’t try to talk with him.) The exterior of the ice cream shop is grimy and dim, but inside it is bright and cheerful, with the staff bustling around and customers chatting. Most of the food Ed eats comes from here.

Once inside, Izzy pulls the rest of the Activity Club onto the stools at the front- which conveniently only had five seats- and smiles winningly at Zarei. “Well,” she said, looking like she was definitely planning something. “I guess you guys just have to go sit together. We can’t leave just one person out, after all.”

With a sigh, Dr. Zarei let herself be dragged over to a corner booth. Izzy watches her for a few seconds before turning back the group. “So,” she said, pressing their shoulders together, “What do you think about them?”

Max blinked at her. “They’re both… nice people, I guess. Why?”

Izzy makes an impatient gesture. “Yes they’re nice people. I mean…” her voice lowers in a conspiratorial whisper. “How do you feel about… them?” 

Max stares at her blankly, and Ed can tell that he thinks they're actually third graders. Isaac, on the other hand, scrunches up his face in confusion. “What do you mean, them?”

Izzy makes a sound of eternal suffering, and Ed braces himself. “I mean them as a couple. Like. One that goes on dates.”

Max gapes for a few seconds, swivels around to look at the happy couple in the corner, and gapes at Izzy some more. Frozen in shock, Isaac stares at the counter with a glassy expression. Ed smiles at their confusion. 

As Isabel begins to explain the forty eight ways Agent Day and Dr. Zarei would make a perfect couple, Max turns back around to look at the corner booth again. He stares at them for a few seconds, eyes glazed over, nodding every now and then. It is apparent he is not listening to Izzy at all. 

“I’ll do it,” Max says suddenly. “I- well, we- can set them up together.”

Izzy punches Max’s arm, then claps her hands together.

“Welp,” she says, eyes alight and smile reaching them. “Let’s get started.”

 

Apparently, them ‘getting started’ means ordering more ice cream. 

 

Ed almost gives up on the world’s greatest couple on a Friday. After a week and a half of meddling, interfering and breaking lamps, the Activity Club had achieved nothing.

They had tried everything: arranging a meeting then conveniently ‘forgetting’ to show up (Zarei and Day had a lovely time at a cafe, despite the fact that Day couldn’t see the menu); locking them in a room together (Izzy’s grandpa was asleep in there, and gave Day a nice lesson on how to break down a door); they had even tried the squish them together on the couch while watching a movie (Dr. Zarei apparently knew where every couch in Izzy’s house was, because she pulled another one out of the room next door). It was hopeless. 

They sat there, the Activity Club, draped over the shelves and racks in Max’s corner store, trying to come up with ideas. Isabel is flung over the counter, staring at the ceiling like it would hold the answer to life’s problems. 

“Um, are you guys gonna buy anything?” Max asks, tapping his fingers on the cash register. “‘Cause I think you’re scaring away Potential Customers.” Like the words were a title. 

Silence. Isaac continues to anime-glare at the frozen foods corner.

When no one responds, he continues, “Potential Customers like the ones waiting outside. Right now. Oh wait that’s Johnny go let him in.”

Isaac turns his anime-glare to Johnny and trudges up to open the door. 

Johnny enter, tenses at the atmosphere, and asks, “Hey, are you all… okay? ‘Cause, like-”

Isabel bolts upright and leaps off the counter, grabbing Johnny by the shoulders and staring at him. “That’s it! Johnny, you’re a- well, you’re smart, I guess. But the idea’s genius!”

Flailing wildly, Johnny looks to Max. Max ignores him, and says, “Kindly clarify on that statement, Isabel.”

Isabel whips her head around to Max, and Ed knows that the look in her eye means very brilliant, terrible things. 

“Okay, so we just need to know if they know they’re gonna be a great couple. It’s like with you- um, you know, every great tragic romance. They don’t know they’re made for each other, but one of them is incredibly in like the other, right? It’s the job of the comedic side-characters to set them up!”

Isaac pauses, then stops anime-glaring for a second to ask, “Did you just call us the side-characters? Because I’ll have you know that I would definitely be one of the first three characters on the wiki or whatever, and that agent and Dr. Zarei? They’d be a minor romance at the least, probab-”

Isabel cuts him off. “We need to find out if one of them likes the other. It’s the only way.”

“Yeah but Max and I have to go meet-” Johnny starts, before getting interrupted.

“No,” Max says, eyes unreadable. “We can do that later. Johnny, come with us.”

Johnny doesn't agree, but he doesn't really protest either. Max drags him out with the others. 

When they arrive at Dr. Zarei’s apartment, (“What were either of them doing at your house in the first place?” Max muses) Izzy bangs her fist on the all the call buttons, until someone lets her in. They troop up all the stairs, peering into every front door till they find her. 

Dr. Zarei lives on the sixth floor of a building that is really too high to fit Mayview. When the reach the lobby, Izzy bangs on all the call buttons until someone lets her in, and they all troop up six flights of stairs. Her door is blue, with a brass knocker. Hanging off of it is a small ribbon, probably something only spectrals could see.

Isaac knocks on the door, very politely, just because if Izzy did it Zarei might not answer. 

Dr. Zarei does answer, looking ruffled and slightly irritated. She adjusts her glasses and frowns, asking, “Isabel? And- Max? What are you doing here?”

Max crosses his arms defensively,. Johnny looks very out of place, and Ed thinks that he doesn’t know what they’re doing there either. Isaac is probably writing fanfiction in his head. Izzy is just angry, and it seems like she’s itching to take a picture of Zarei without her walls. Maybe she’ll send it to Day. 

Zarei stares at Isabel a little harder. Izzy relents a little, and says, “We came to ask you something. A- a question.” 

Zarei’s eyebrows do something funny, and she responds, “Well, you’d better come in, then.”

They are lead down the hall to Dr. Zarei’s kitchen. It’s a small, yellow room, a lot cozier and lived-in than Ed would have expected, with a round table surrounded by chairs and a couple of appliances. Max immediately sits in one of the wooden chairs, and Johnny does too, with some more hesitance. 

Zarei leans a hip on the counter. “So,” she says, her tone suggesting that A Discussion is about to take place. “What did you need to ask me? I have a thing going on right now.”

“A thing?” 

“Company.”

Izzy turns her head to the door. “Should we leave then?”

“No. I want to know what your question is. And-” her voice hesitates, almost. It comes back stronger. “And I want to know you’ve all been talking to me for this past week.”

Izzy flattens her mouth, and Ed remembers that all the conversations she tried to dodge. Not just from Zarei, even, but anyone at her house. Izzy has a tendency to be very defensive and very, very stubborn. 

Max speaks up. “We, uh. We wanted to try and, um, get you together. With, uh-”

He is interrupted by Agent Day, of all people, entering the kitchen.

“Ah, Mina. I may have eaten all the popcorn when you left, so we might need some more. Preferably a bigger bowl this time, though!” She laughs, and Ed remembers that, oh, Agent Day is blind and would not realize what she just walked into. 

The Activity Club, on the other hand, is agape. Johnny doesn’t even know what’s going on and he still looks shocked. Izzy and Isaac are about ready to stop the entire earth from moving. Max is slumped on the kitchen table. 

“Uh, are you two…” Johnny speaks for the first time on this endeavor. “...like… watching a movie together?”

At this point, Isaac has either gone into write fanfic based on this situation mode, or he’s gone into spirit mode and is breathing too quickly to notice. Ed thinks that there’s a word for this situation. Dramatic irony, or something. He really needs to start paying attention in English class. 

Zarei crosses her arms and shuffles her feet a little. “It’s a documentary, actually. On sharks.”

Hands busy with popcorn, Day chirps, “Mina chooses every other date night, but I really like the sharks this time!”

Ed is sure that Izzy’s world is falling down around her ankles, and Max may or may not be trying to burrow into the table. At least Johnny is trying to pull him back out. 

Staring at the Activity Club, Zarei says slowly, “Actually, we should probably be getting back to the sharks. Do you want to leave, or um, stay?”

Pushing and pulling Max out of his chair, Johnny stands. “We should leave. Um. Yeah.” 

Blindly, Isaac followed them out the kitchen door. 

Ed tried for a smile, missed the mark, and tried again. “Me n’ Izzy, we’re just gonna. Be here for a bit. We’ll be out by morning,” he says. “Probably.”

Day and Zarei nod, Day cheerfully and Zarei a bit slower. Izzy continues to stand in the corner. With slight smiles, they all look over at her (except for Day, who looks in her general area). 

 

 

Ed and Izzy are at the ice cream shop with milkshakes by morning.

**Author's Note:**

> these kid's family lives are so... i don't even know. would any of their parents/guardians notice if they went to a strange person's house at like ten at night without telling them? maybe not. my tiny bbys.
> 
> plus, the food at isabel and ed's place cannot be carefully moderated. ed probably lives off of, i dunno, granola, sunshine, and whipped cream. 
> 
> also characterizing isabel is so difficult i feel like i messed her up so bad, even though i love her so. she's so great but??? i need to reread pnat to get a better grasp on isabel.


End file.
